This FCC Commissioner’s Warnings Finally Have an Audience
(Bloomberg Opinion) – In a large part of this year, Anna M. Gomez, the only democratic of the Federal Communication Commission, was something from Cassandra. The Trump has traveled in the USA for months in a warning about the growing “censorship and control campaign” and the risk presented to democracy.
It was a lonely mission until this week. However, on Wednesday, FCC President Brendan Carr threatened to investigate ABC on the comments made by Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and ABC under pressure. Now he listens to millions and gives Gomez’s warning the wider interest he deserves.
On Friday, he said that the soft -talked commission member Bloomberg TV used the Trump administration to “Power Leverages to bring publishers to heels and news media”.
His comments are a continuation of what he said to Axios and Msnbc on Thursday, as he had already already, the management “armed the undergraduate authority” and yalnızanlaştir will retaliate to anyone who dare to speak against it, and this is really dangerous for our democracy ”.
What he says is echoing, showing a clear change in America’s priorities and a possible opening for desperate democrats.
Last year, after focusing on the threats posed by former Vice President Kamala Harris to democracy, you can now remember that he lost his decisive way to President Donald Trump. The voters who supported Trump told the questionnaires that they did this because they attached much more importance to the economy. Since then, there has been a lot of hands squeezing in the Democratic Party whether there was a right message to prioritize the danger of Trump for democracy-and extension.
But not 2025 2024. The last polls made from IPSOS found that “political extremes and threats to democracy” was the biggest issue faced by the United States. This is remarkable, but it is not necessarily good for the Democrats: the Americans are the best equipped to address this best issue, 30% of them are divided by saying that they do not know the democrats, 29% of the Republicans and 34%.
If the Democrats hope to win 34% of voters, they will have to explain why their threats against comedians and journalists are as important as the price of eggs. At the same time, starting from giving priority to the needs of the average Americans, it will mean clearly indicating how their parties will do work differently.
This brings me back to Gomez. He makes both of them with the so -called first tour.
In May, I had the chance to see Gomez’s first stop in Los Angeles outside the Washington DC. For a lunch panel discussion, a surprisingly large group of deep worrying inhabitants, professors and media types appeared to hear their thoughts – and Gomez had no word medals.
“The aim of all these actions is to ease the conversation,” he warned.
This shortly after the FCC under Carr’s examination of the only debate between ABC News Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris, CBS News, because of the so -called prejudiced arrangement of an interview with Harris. Trump also signed an order of administrator who interrupted government financing for PBS and NPR.
“We need people to talk and push back, because the only way to overcome a bullying is to punch the bullying back,” he said. “Before we continue to wear our freedom, we need this administration. The first change is a pillar of our democracy, and we would like to make sure that everyone can speak freely even if we accept this speech.”
More recently, Washington was in Spokane, and “The first change was the basis of democracy, and today the foundation trembles from our own government under constant attacks.
Gomez, who was appointed to FCC by former president Joe Biden in 2023, is more bureaucrat than a belligerent. Before Trump returned to the White House, the former telecommunications lawyer was mostly working on crippled issues to expand net neutrality and extensive band access.
When Trump touched Carr to become the president of the FCC in January, and in June he became a commission member alone. The first moment of galvanizing announced that Carr has opened an investigation on reports on migration raids to a San Francisco radio station in Fox News. Things went downhill from there.
Reflecting Trump, Carr rejected FCC’s allegations of nonconformity, including what Gomez called “false investigations .. “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” If he said, he accused the audience who declined for withdrawing the show.
Comedy shows late at night should really focus on an agency with a relatively narrow mission to edit publishing, telecommunications and wide band?
Gomez says that the Americans will say no, and instead of the commission members should spend their time on Robocaller, pirate radio, fraud and fraud. “Real damage to consumers, real damage to businesses,” Axios said.
The words may be passing. On Thursday, more than 100 people arrived in Hollywood to protest ABC’s decision to side by side. They carried the signs that called for “bending his knee to Trump”. Calls were also made to boycott the Disney flow service of ABC. Even the Texas Republican US Senator Ted Cruz is not happy by comparing Carr with the mafia boss.
Increased number of Americans are also concerned about the Trump administration’s efforts to cool the conversation. Like Kimmel, others completely suspended or lost their jobs because they talked about the assassination of Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Attorney General Pam Bondi accepted any criticism about “hate speech” and threatened to prosecute people on this issue.
For all these reasons, Gomez does not plan to withdraw. “I think there is a lot of power in my opposition, Thursday Thursday said.
The first change round continues, even if it is not Kimmel’s show.
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This column reflects the author’s personal views and does not reflect the opinion of the Editorial Board or Bloomberg LP and owners.
Erika D. Smith is a policy and policy columnist for the Bloomberg view. He is a former Los Angeles Times columnist and Sacramento Bee Editor.
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